Bible Lexicons

σάββατον, σαββάτου, τό (Hebrew שַׁבָּת), found in the N. T. only in the historical books except twice in Paul's Epistles; sabbath; i. e.:

1. the seventh day of each week, which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work (Exodus 20:10; Exodus 31:13; Deuteronomy 5:14);

a. singular σάββατον and τό σάββατον: Mark 6:2; ( L Tr); Mark 16:1; John 5:9f, etc.; equivalent to the institution of the sabbath, the law for keeping holy every seventh day of the week: Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:27; Luke 6:5; λύειν, John 5:18; τηρεῖν, John 9:16; ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ σαββάτου (הַשַּׁבָּת יום, Exodus 20:8 and often), the day of the sabbath, sabbath-day, Luke 13:16; Luke 14:5; ὁδός σαββάτου, a sabbath-day's journey, the distance it is lawful to travel on the sabbath-day, i. e. according to the Talmud two thousand cubits or paces, according to Epiphanius (haer. 66, 82) six stadia: Acts 1:12, cf. Matthew 24:20 (the regulation was derived from Exodus 16:29); cf. Winers RWB, under the word Sabbathsweg; Oehler in Herzog xiii., 203f (cf. Leyrer in Herzog edition 2 vol. 9:379); Mangold in Sehenkel v., 127f; (Ginsburg in Alexander's Kitto under the word Sabbath Day's Journey; Lumby on Acts 1:12 (in Cambr. Bible for Schools)). as dative of time (Winers Grammar, § 31, 9 b.; Buttmann, § 133, 26): σαββάτῳ, Matthew 24:20 (G L T Tr WH); Luke 14:1; τῷ σαββάτῳ, Luke 6:9 L text T Tr WH; Luke 13:14; Luke 14:3; Acts 13:44; ἐν σαββάτῳ, Matthew 12:2; John 5:16; John 7:22 (here L WH brackets ἐν),23; ἐν τῷ σαββάτῳ, Luke 6:7; John 19:31, accusative τό σάββατον during (on) the sabbath (cf. Buttmann, § 131, 11; Winer's Grammar, § 32,6): Luke 23:56; κατά πᾶν σάββατον every sabbath, Acts 13:27; Acts 15:21; Acts 18:4. plural τά σάββατα, of several sabbaths, Acts 17:2 (some refer this to 2).

b. plural, τά σαββάτων (for the singular) of a single sabbath, sabbath-day (the use of the plural being occasioned either by the plural names of festivals, as τά ἐγκαίνια, ἄζυμα, γενέσια, or by the Chaldaic form שַׁבָּתָא (Winers Grammar, 177 (167); Buttmann, 23 (21))): Matthew 28:1; Colossians 2:16 (Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 23:32 etc.; τήν ἑβδόμην σάββατα καλουμεν, Josephus, Antiquities 3, 6, 6; add, 1, 1, 1; (14, 10, 25; Philo de Abrah. § 5; de cherub. § 26; Plutarch, de superstitione 8); τήν τῶν σαββάτων ἑορτήν, Plutarch, symp. 4, 6, 2; hodie tricesima sabbata, Horace sat. 1, 9, 69; nowhere so used by John except in the phrase μία τῶν σαββάτων, on which see 2 below); ἡ ἡμέρα τῶν σαββάτων, Luke 4:16; Acts 13:14; Acts 16:13 (Exodus 20:8; Exodus 35:3; Deuteronomy 5:12; Jeremiah 17:21f); τοῖς σάββασιν and ἐν τοῖς σάββασιν (so constantly (except Lachmann in Matthew 12:1, 12) by metaplasm for σαββάτοις, cf. Winers Grammar, 63 (62); (Buttmann, 23 (21))) on the sabbath-day: Matthew 12:1(see above),5, 10-12 (see above); Mark 1:21; Mark 2:23; Mark 3:2, 4; Luke 4:31; Luke 6:9 (R G L marginal reading) (1 Macc. 2:38; the Sept. uses the form σαββάτοις, and Josephus both forms). On the precepts of the Jews with regard to the observance of the sabbath, which were for the most part extremely punctilious and minute, cf. Winers RWB, under the word Sabbath; Oehler in Herzog xiii. 192ff (revised by Orelli in edition 2 vol. xiii. 156ff); Schürer, Zeitgesch. 2te Aufl. § 28 II.; Mangold in Schenkel see, p. 123f; (BB. DD., under the word; Geikie, Life and Words of Christ, chapter xxxviii. vol. ii: p. 95ff; Farrar, Life of Christ, chapter xxxi. vol. i., p. 432f; Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, vol. ii., p. 56ff and Appendix, xvii.).

2. seven days, a week: πρώτη σαββάτου, Mark 16:9; δίς τοῦ σαββάτου, twice in the week, Luke 18:12. The plural is used in the same sense in the phrase ἡ μία τῶν σαββάτων, the first day of the week (see εἷς, 5) (Prof. Sophocles regards the genitive (dependent on ἡμέρα) in such examples as those that follow (cf. Mark 16:9 above) as equivalent to μετά with an accusative, the first day after the sabbath; see his Lex., p. 43 par. 6): Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; κατά μίαν σαββάτων (L T Tr WH σαββάτου), on the first day of every week, 1 Corinthians 16:2.